Dionysus's Dancers
The Dancers of Dionysus are magical revelers and party-animals who follow the path laid out by Bacchus's wild women. Their ritual tools are strong wine, drums, Dionysian thyrsus-staves, and wild debauched revelry. Initiation: Drink Deep of the Cup of Life Requirements: Acanthus (Mind Inferior), Gnosis 1, Life 1, Expression 1 The novice Dancer gains the Favored Attribute of Dexterity, the Favored Practices of Compelling, Weaving, and Veiling, and Life becomes a third Ruling Arcanum. Dionysus' Dancers are an Ecstatic tradition. First Attainment: Never Thirst Requirements: Gnosis 2, Life 2, Fate 1, Expression 2 The Dancer exudes an enthralling presence. Animals and humans find her presence captivating. She gains the Sexualized Merit and two dots of the Striking Looks Merit. Once she attains Life 4, her bonus to Striking Looks raises to four dots, instead. If she already had the Striking Looks Merit, add the bonuses from her Attainment to her original Merit, even if this exceeds four dots, to a maximum effect of achieving an exceptional success on 2 successes for all face-to-face Social rolls. This profound allure comes at the cost of sanity, however – for the rest of her life, she resists gaining derangements at -1 die, and may never expend Morale or Will to avoid gaining a derangement. Second Attainment: Join the Dance Requirements: Gnosis 3, Life 3, Expression 3 As she dances, the Dancer grows in grace and beauty. The Dancer permanently adds her rank in the Life Arcanum to her Dexterity. She may raise her Dexterity to the higher of (Life + 5) or (Life + Gnosis) with Experience, but must purchase each new dot of Dexterity as if the dots gained by this Attainment were natural. There is a downside to her unearthly grace and beauty, however – she immediately loses one dot each from Resolve, Wits and Logic, and must choose another Mental Attribute to lower whenever she gains another rank in the Life Arcanum. Additionally, raising all Mental Attributes now costs (new level x 7) Experience. The rhythm of the Dance forever clouds her mind, and will never let her free. Optional Arcanum: Fate 3 With Fate 3, the Dancer gains the Rote quality for rolls involving the Athletics and Expression skills, so long as they involve dancing or drumming. Third Attainment: Bacchanalia's Reverie Requirements: Gnosis 4, Life 4, Expression 4 The Dancer now exudes an enthralling sense of wild abandon. While dancing and singing, she may influence the emotions of any man or beast within a number of yards equal to her Gnosis. She rolls the higher of Dexterity + Expression or Presence + Expression, and may influence the emotions of any being within range whose Resolve does not exceed the number of successes achieved. Optional Arcanum: Spirit 4 With Spirit 4, the Dancer may invite the spirit of the Dance into herself. She adds her rank in the Spirit Arcanum to her maximum Presence, following the same rules as the Dexterity enhancement above. Additionally, those Dancers who embrace the Dance so thoroughly entrance those around them – for a radius in yards equal to the Dancer's Gnosis, all beings suffer a -1 penalty to their Resolve and Composure to resist any mental influences whenever she is dancing. This penalty extends to the Dancer herself, as well, even when she is sitting still – the music of the Dance is always inside her. Once she reaches this Attainment, she can always touch and be touched by any spirit as if she and they were physical, but cannot see or otherwise perceive what she is touching without Spirit-sight. Dionysus' Dancers Rotes Savor the Moment (Time •• + Life ••, Covert) Roll: Wits + Empathy + Time + 2 Practice: Compelling Cost: None The Dancer alters her perception of time, so that moments seem to crawl by. Each success increases her Initiative and Speed by 1 for the remainder of the scene, and adds +1 to her Wits for the purposes of noticing quick details that could potentially benefit from a longer look. Dance to the Rhythm (Fate ••• + Life •••, Covert) Roll: Dexterity + Expression + Fate + 3 (Ritual only) Practice: Weaving Cost: None As the Dancers play their music, they call all to come join them. Multiple Dancers may come together to cast this ritual, with the mage with the highest rank in Fate leading, and all others following using the Teamwork rules. The total successes equal the radius in miles of the spell's effect, within which all living beings find themselves coincidentally drawn into the dancer's circle by strands of Fate. The radius flickers, waxes and wanes like the tides – unlike most ritual effects, do not add successes from successive rolls together. Instead, use each ritual roll's successes to determine the radius of effect for that time-span's worth of dancing. Category:Mage Category:Tradition Category:Ecstatics Category:Acanthus